Afterwards
by Jcani
Summary: [A simplistic, "what happened next" oneshot musing I had. Very Light NeilXEva] Feeling uncharacteristically sentimental, Neil visits the grave of Johnny and River.


The sun coated the sky in a warm orange color as it slowly began to peek over the skyline, its rays barely glinting from the horizon. An oceanic breeze permeated within the air, lightly tousling the grass and flowers decorating the cliff-top. A brown-haired man in glasses, dressed in a white lab coat, a lighthouse flanking his right, stood in front of two graves, hands in his coat pocket. He was tight-lipped and what little of the early morning sun's rays shined against his glasses lens and hid his eyes, making his expression unreadable.

"Um, Doctor Watts?"

"Hm?" The doctor turned his head towards the left, finding Lily, the new owner of the house in the platform above them, walking towards him, bearing a white mug.

"You like coffee, right? I brought you some…" Lily trailed off after seeing the redness in Neil's eyes, the sun's light no longer shielding his expression. "Doctor Watts, are you okay?"

"What? No, er, I mean yes, it's just," Neil removed his glasses and rubbed an arm across his eyes. Afterwards, he adjusted his glasses and gave Lily an awkward smile. "Me and Eva just pulled another all-nighter last night; is that coffee for me? Thanks." He took the cup from her and bowed his head appreciatively before taking a sip and turning back to face the graves.

"And how is Doctor Rosalene?" Lily laced her fingers behind her back and leaned forward with a small smile, looking at Neil expectantly.

Neil, not noticing Lily's stance, shrugged dismissively. "Eva? She's okay I guess."

"And your relationship?" Lily asked coyly, a shadow of a smirk nearly appearing on her face.

"Eh, she insulted me only three times last night so I guess we're making headway there or something. Why do you ask?" Neil took another sip from his coffee.

Lily sighed and shook her head at Neil's naivety. "Oh it's nothing, just thought you two made a nice couple."

Coffee spurted out of Neil's mouth though he quickly turned to the right to avoid disrespecting the graves. "What would make you say that?" he asked as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"The papers keep going on and on about the success you and Doctor Rosalene achieve in memory reconfiguration," Lily answered, albeit slightly sarcastically. "You two make a great team."

"Oh is that all?" responded Neil with an awkward laugh, oblivious to her tone, before turning back to face the graves. Lily rolled her eyes and stood next to Neil as she looked down at the grave of Johnny, now forever by the side of his childhood love, River.

"Do you often visit the graves of your patients, Doctor Watts?"

"Only the ones who make me rethink my life."

"I didn't take you for a sentimentalist, doctor."

"I was being sarcastic."

"Were you?" Lily looked at Neil with a raised eyebrow and a coy smile. Neil had his mouth open though no words came out. He then closed it, conceding, and went back to staring at the graves. For a minute, no words were exchanged between the two, the silence being broken only by the sound of Neil sipping at his coffee. When he had finished, he sighed.

"Johnny here must be really lucky."

"Hm?" Lily looked at him questioningly.

"River. He got to meet River. Marry her. Have a life with her."

"Went to the moon with her."

A chortle left Neil at Lily's remark. "Good one." He dug his hand inside his pocket and pulled a crumpled and slightly disfigured origami bunny. He placed it between the graves and shrugged sheepishly at Lily. "It was the best effort I could make."

"That rabbit…" Lily mused, looking down at Neil's poor attempt at origami. "I still haven't found out the reasoning behind all those paper rabbits in the basement, or the ones up in the lighthouse."

"Sigmund Corp. believes in maintaining our patients' privacy, even in death," Neil said a-matter-of-factly, pushing his glasses up. Lily looked at him, disheartened, and Neil sighed, rubbing his forehead with his index finger and thumb. "Although if you keep it like Vegas here, I suppose I could pretend I'm talking to myself and you could just happen to overhear…"

Lily nodded eagerly and Neil sighed once more. "Back in John's childhood, at a fair, well, not _at the fair_, but during the fair or carnival or whatever it was, John met River at a cliff-side, and the two decided to go look at the stars. They had a small contest to see who can make out a constellation from the stars and nearly instantaneously, River won. John managed to find the Constellation River made and River asked him to describe it. The ears and feet were formed by the stars above and below the moon. The body was the moon itself. They made a promise to meet at the next fair and if they didn't they would meet on the moon

Unfortunately, afterwards, Johnny's twin brother, Joey, was accidentally hit by a car driven by their own mother. This event was so traumatizing that beta blockers were used to make him forget. Unfortunately this made him forget about his meeting with River as well. Later on in his life, Johnny meets River in High School, and yada yada, romantic stuff, they get married. At one point, River begins to start making these origami rabbits and asking Johnny to describe them-"

"Because she wanted Johnny to remember the night they met," Lily interrupted.

Neil nodded. "That's right."

"But I don't get it," Lily went on. "Why didn't she just tell him outright?"

Neil shrugged, looking at River's tombstone as if searching for an answer. "Beats me. She was diagnosed with some form of autism, Asperger's I believe, and those with that condition aren't exactly the most forthright of individuals."

"And another thing, if Johnny's memory was obscured by beta blockers, how did he remember his promise about meeting River on the moon?"

"When River died, something in his head triggered, connecting the moon and River. He didn't remember the promise per se, but the loss of River was enough to desire a way to the moon."

Lily stood there silently, taking in Neil's words. Again, another silent minute passed by before one of the spoke up, this time Lily being the one to do so. "I don't know whether I should be happy or sad."

"Pardon?"

Lily hesitated, unsure how to voice her feelings. "I mean, River had to die, knowing that he didn't remember the night they first met. It wasn't until Johnny was near death that he remembered…"

Neil gnawed on the inside of his cheek, choosing his words carefully. "River died… knowing that Johnny cared for her. Even if he didn't remember their first meeting, they still fell in love and had gotten married. Now, I'm not exactly sure why there weren't any children, but all the same, I don't think there was much to regret."

Lily nodded, accepting Neil's answer. "My, I wasn't expecting more sentimentality from you, doctor."

"Heh, just don't tell Eva. She'll tease me about it to no end." Neil then turned from the graves, walking away from the lighthouse. "I'm gonna head to your kitchen and wash this cup of yours."

Neil took a deep breath as he surveyed the landscape, allowing the salty ocean air to fill his lungs. Though he had complained numerous times of the house's location, the serenity of the area had begun to grow on him. The way it looked in the early morning coupled with the fact that there is no dead road-kill to stink up the place had also made him understand why someone would want to live in such a place. It was beautiful, peaceful, and away from the trappings of modernized society.

A squirrel suddenly appeared in front of him, and Neil instantly recognized it. A sparkle glinted in the corner of his eye as he pushed his glasses further up his face and smiled, emitting a small chuckle. "So we meet again, my nemesis." He struck up a dramatic fighting pose but within a second, the squirrel literally turned tail, and skittered away. "Tch, how boring."

As he neared the house, the familiar melodic noise of two notes being repeated over and over caught his ear. Slowly opening the door, as to not disturb those inside, he cautiously inched himself inside, seeing, as expected, Lily's two children, Sarah and Tommy on the piano, playing Johnny's song, _For River._

_Or is it _To the Moon _now? _Neil thought. He silently made his way to the kitchen, rolled up his sleeves, and began to wash his cup, albeit slowly, savoring the music coming from the living room. _Those kids aren't bad at all. _After spending a minute longer than needed washing his cup, he propped his arms against the edge of kitchen sink, leaning forward, his lips pursed. He didn't want to leave quite yet though it would have been a little awkward if he stuck around just so he could listen to the children play a song he practically heard all night long.

He spied a stack of dishes by the sink that needed to be washed. He shrugged to himself and took the first plate on the top of the stack and began washing it methodically. His head began to bob lightly to the rhythm of the music as he went through stack of plates. As he finished more and more plates, he began to wash more and more slowly. The door to the kitchen opened, revealing a surprised Lily as she spied Neil washing her family's dishes.

"Oh, Doctor Watts, I was about to come in and do those myself. You don't have to bother with them."

Neil gave turned his head to her and gave her a warm smile. "Please. It's the least I can do."

"Well, okay then…" Lily began to close the door shut but before she closed it all the way, she stopped, seeming to think to herself, and walked away, leaving the door open, something Neil was thankful for. The piano playing had stopped once Neil was on his last dish, having spent an unreasonably long time on the previous one, and he hurried up and finished it before drying his hands on a nearby towel and unrolling his sleeves. Stepping out of the kitchen, Sarah and Tommy approached him, having finished their business at the piano.

"Hey there mister! Your lady friend promised you'd be bringing us five candy canes each!" Tommy declared.

"Yeah! D'ya have them?" Sarah chimed in.

Neil gritted his teeth as his eye twitched. _That damn Eva_. _If I was in her shoes I'd probably make up some lie like they'd go to jail for six years for plotting candy theft._ "Er, um, here's the thing. Doctor Rosalene made that promise on my behalf, something you should never do and…" Neil was unable to finish his sentence as the two siblings, began to pout, their bottom lips quivering and their eyes glistening with tears. "…and, uh, and that doesn't make me obligated to uh… well, could you punks stop crying?!"

"We're not crying!"

"Just disappointed."

A growl reverberated with Neil's throat as he looked down at the pouting duo. "Grrr, all right then. I'll come back another day with your candy canes, is that okay?"

Sarah and Tommy's pinky fingers shot up, demanding the sacred childhood oath. Neil rolled his eyes as he interlocked his pinky with theirs. "Yeah, yeah, I pinky promise."

Sarah and Tommy cheered triumphantly before returning to the piano, commencing _For River_ once more.

"Don't you brats know any other song?"

"We know lots!" Sarah said over her shoulder.

"But this one's our favorite!" Tommy added. "Johnny wrote it!"

"Yeah… I know."

"Doctors Watts?" Lily approached Neil, coming from the stairs, holding two sheets of paper. She handed them to Neil, finding it to be sheet music to _For River_.

"This is…"

"The children already know the song by heart, and I figured you would like to learn the song as well." Lily gave him a soft smile.

"That's…" Neil bit his bottom lip, gratitude seeping into his own sarcastic core. "Thanks, I really appreciate it. I uh, I guess I should be getting out of your hair now."

"I'll walk you to your car," Lily insisted as she opened the door and waited for Neil to step out. As they exited the house, Lily kept the door open, propping it open with a rock.

Neil looked at her quizzically. "You're not going to close the door?" Lily shook her head and gave Neil a knowing smile before the two headed south towards the road. The music pervaded across the cliff-top as Neil and Lily headed towards the road. Neil took thetime to look over the sheet music, reading notes as he followed along with his ears. The two found themselves walking leisurely, not exactly in any rush.

"Not tired of this song yet?"

Lily made a half-nod to the side as she raised a shoulder. "It's… It's okay. A new song every now and again is nice but I don't mind it too much. It's pretty."

"Yeah…"

"Doctor Watts, you were saying earlier that you thought Johnny was lucky that he met River. What do you mean by that?"

Neil glanced at River suspiciously from the corner of his eye. "You seem to be asking me a lot of questions."

"I like helping people. First it was John. Now it's you."

Neil clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. "What makes you think I need help?"

"I can see it in your eyes," Lily answered, giving him a look of concern. "It was the same thing I saw in Johnny's eyes. That look of pain. Sorrow. Unhappiness."

Neil stopped walking and stared at the ground. Despite having walked further from the house, the music seemed to get louder as the emotions within Neil began to broil.

"Don't tell anyone but… I want what John had. A love that would last even to death. I know that's incredibly cheesy, and sappy, and unmanly and…"Neil trailed off when Lily had grasped his arm and hugged him comfortingly.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting happiness." She rubbed his arm in a placating manner. "But just so you know, you don't have to look too far, because it's constantly by your side, making fun of you."

Neil looked at her incredulously. "What kind of happiness is that?"

Lily relinquished her hold on Neil once they neared his car parked on the roadside. "Until next time, doctor." Lily waved farewell and Neil returned it with a curt nod. The music had now finished playing, and a small pang of sadness echoed inside of him. After strapping himself into the driver's seat, Neil stared blankly at the road, wondering what Lily meant. _By my side, making fun of me? I don't get it. _

Eva was now walking from the Sigmund Corps. Office building, having just submitted the report of last night's Memory Reconfiguration. Their patient was a man in his thirties, suffering from cancer. The man's wish was to be a soldier and to die heroically on the field of battle. A bit different from the usual, but rather straightforward nonetheless. The patient had actually asked for Eva and Neil personally, as did many other patients before him, and the pair had started to pick up a small amount of fame in their business.

She got into her car that was parked out front, one that she was now able to afford because of her and Neil's popularity, and certainly one she would need as Neil's accident prior to John's reconfiguration made it so that the company was less inclined to provide them with a car.

Eva drove slowly, still quite tired from last night. Though the job was simple, the memory jumps were pretty short, with some memories occurring mere hours before, thereby lengthening the process and increasing the time it took to get into the patient's childhood memories. She let out a loud yawn, tapping the break lightly with her foot to avoid any accidents as she momentarily closed her eyes. _I'll stop by Neil's place; he's bound to have some coffee, should be enough of a pick-me-up to get me home. Or maybe I could just take a nap at his place. _

It seemed to fluster Neil to no end whenever she happens to stay over, a response she always loved to elicit from him. _He's cute when he's agitated_. Thinking of Neil in distressed state reminded Eva of one of their toughest jobs, John. The way Neil reacted when he though she was going to delete River was quite surprising and endearing as well. Perhaps Neil did have a soft side. It was certainly the side Eva would rather see as opposed to his callous demeanor and sarcastic disposition. Maybe she can tease him about it when she reaches his place.

In relatively no time at all, she arrived in front of the apartment complex where Neil stayed. Due to its cheap cost and close to distance to the office building, many other Sigmund Corp. employees were tenants in this building as well.

After she had parked and stepped out of her car, a familiar two-note tune caught her ear. The tempo was rather uneven, and the harmonies were out of sync with the melody. Despite the poor performance, Eva immediately recognized the song. She entered the apartment building, taking the stairs up to the second floor. The music became louder and she had no doubts as to where the music was coming from. She reached a door near the end of the hall and without bothering to knock, pulled out a key from her pocket, and opened the door.

She was greeted by the sight of Neil sitting on his couch, a keyboard between himself and the coffee table in front of him which was stained with what Eva could hardly fathom as hundreds of brown coffee rings. Has he never heard of coasters? As expected, there was a fresh cup of coffee on the table as well. On the music stand attached to the keyboard was some sheet music which Neil furrowed his brows at. Neil glanced at her briefly before turning back to the sheet music.

"Hey Eva." His fingers moved clumsily over the keyboard as he fumbled with the notes. Eva moved in closer and saw to the left of him on the empty couch seat was a small plate holding some half-eaten carrot cake, a forked stabbed through the remaining cake.

"Why are you…? How did you…?"

Neil stopped playing and pursed his lips, unsure of how to answer Eva's unfinished questions. Instead, he chose to avoid it altogether. "So, just walking into people's houses now?"

"Um, one, you gave me a key so I wouldn't, and I quote, 'bother [you] with the inconvenience of answering the door,' and two, you seem to forget the fact that I _own _you."

Neil looked up at her with a frown. "Are you still holding that entrance exam thing over my head? You know if word gets out we'll _both _be in trouble, right?"

"It's not like I'm using it as blackmail, you _owe _me Neil."

"Yeah, yeah…" Neil went back to poorly playing the piano. Eva then eyed the carrot cake by his side.

"Don't you hate my carrot cake?"

Neil stopped once more and looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. "Where would you get that idea?"

"You said it while we were reconfiguring John's memories, remember?"

"I said it sucked."

Eva rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like that makes a difference."

Neil seemed to look at her challengingly, unnerving Eva. Then, tauntingly, Neil picked up the plate and fork, and slowly began to eat the rest of the carrot cake, all the while not taking his eyes off Eva.

"Okay Neil, now you're being a dweeb. Stop eating the cake."

"Buh ahm nuh binished yeh,"Neil mumbled through a mouthful of cake.

"Seriously Neil, if you don't like my cake, then don't eat it."

Neil swallowed the mouthful he had. "I _never _said I didn't like your cake."

"You said it sucks!"

"It does suck!"

"Then stop eating it!"

"No!"

"Stop!"

Neil shoved another forkful into his mouth. "No!"

Eva began to pull the plate from Neil, who held on to it tightly. "Give me that plate!"

"No!" Neil then began to shovel the rest of the cake into his mouth, leaving the plate void with but a few crumbs. Once it was empty he let go, causing Eva, who was still pulling on the plate, to fall back and land on her rear. She glared up at Neil, seeing him with a mouth so stuffed we cake that he couldn't seem to swallow. Or chew for that matter. Neil took a few sips from his coffee, softening the mixture in his mouth into a more chewable state before finally swallowing. "There, all gone."

"You didn't have to do that, moron." Eva stood up and dusted herself off before sitting to Neil's left on the couch. "Scooch over a bit."

"What are you-"

"Just do it."

"Okay, okay, sheesh." Neil moved over to the right so that now he and Eva were both behind the keyboard. Eva readjusted the sheet music on the stand.

"I'll play the bottom part and you focus on the melody. Try to keep it in tempo, okay?"

"What's the tempo gonna be?"

"Andante." Neil looked at Eva briefly with confused eyes, eliciting a sigh from Eva. "It means slow."

"Why don't we play it fast?" Neil, asked, almost rebelliously.

"Do you want it to sound good or not?"

"Fine, fine…"

Neil started off playing the two repeating notes with his index and middle finger with Eva joining him with the harmony. Without having to worry about reading both the treble clef and the bass clef, the performance sounded relatively good in comparison to Neil's solo attempt. As they played, Neil's mind wandered off, thinking about Lily said to him earlier in the day.

_ It's constantly by your side, making fun of you_

"You're not doing half bad there, Neil."

"Thanks."

"Don't let it get to your head, maintain the tempo moron."

"…Okay."

_Maybe it's metaphorical or something._


End file.
